Why not be ambitious

22-year-old Mikkel from Esbjerg on the Danish west coast had no doubts about his choice of career. He was determined to be a freight forwarder like his uncle – a choice Mikkel’s parents were fully behind.

Armed with a diploma in Commerce and lots of gumption, Mikkel started as freight forwarder trainee at IAT on 3 April 2018.

“It’s been great to start at IAT. My colleagues have been really welcoming”, tells Mikkel.

“Getting a hang of things has been pretty quick, even though I have only been in the office for a short while. I started directly in freight forwarder school.”

As part of the 2-year education to become a freight forwarder, trainees must attend school for nine weeks and then write a final exam paper.

The first year of his training period, Mikkel will be working in the UK department, handling import and export.

"On a normal day, I start work at 8 o’clock in the morning. We check up on which hauliers, drivers and trailers are currently on the road, and what cargo is to be picked up and delivered during the day. We also handle bookings, which have gone in since the day before”.

 “I follow up with drivers and make sure that they have all the right information and reference numbers, so that they can pick up trailers from the ferry”.

 Being a freight forwarder is a very extrovert job. Although being a Dane, Mikkel gets to practise his English every day, when coordinating with the English partners of IAT.

 ” Sometimes my colleagues test me to see how much I can do by myself. And then it´s just great when I succeed. I learn something new every day”, a happy Mikkel concludes – not afraid to get comfortable behind the desk of IAT’s Managing Director for the photo shoot. Why not be ambitious.